The Ultimate Gift

Background:
Jason thought his inheritance was going to be the gift of money and lots of it. Was he ever in for a big surprise. Based on the best-selling book "The Ultimate Gift" by Jim Stovall, the story sends trust fund baby Jason Stevens on an improbable journey of discovery, having to answer the ultimate question: "What is the relationship between wealth and happiness?" Jason had a very simple relationship with his impossibly wealthy Grandfather, Howard "Red" Stevens. He hated him. No heart-to-heart talks, no warm fuzzies, just cold hard cash. So of course he figured that when Red died, the whole "reading of the will" thing would be another simple cash transaction, that his Grandfather's money would allow him to continue living in the lifestyle to which he had become accustomed. But what Red left him was anything but simple. Red instead devised a plan for Jason to experience a crash course on life. Twelve tasks, which Red calls "gifts," each challenging Jason in an improbable way, the accumulation of which would change him forever.

Review:
I'm pretty sure this is my new favorite movie. It's heartfelt, clean and just a nice story. It's a great family movie; safe for the kids to view. I've watched it at least five times in the past two months, and that's just not like me to do with any movie. Any movie that's so good I want to watch it multiple times within a year has got to be amazing, and this movie is.

Whipped Cream Cream Cheese Frosting

Recipe:

PREP TIME	15 Min
READY IN	15 Min

SERVINGS & SCALING

Original recipe yield: 1 frosting for a 2 layer 9 inch cake

INGREDIENTS

• 1 (8 ounce) package cream cheese
• 1 cup white sugar
• 1/8 teaspoon salt
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1 1/2 cups heavy whipping cream

DIRECTIONS

1. In a small bowl beat whipping cream until stiff peaks form; set aside.
2. In a large bowl combine cream cheese, sugar, salt and vanilla. Beat until smooth, then fold in whipped cream.

Review:
This frosting is pretty stinking yummy. The only reason I gave it three and a half stars instead of something higher is because it just doesn't hold up like it claims to. Supposedly it "pipes well", but it was much to soft to hold any shape other than a blob! And I've decorated a cake or two in my lifetime. It also wasn't what I was hoping to get out of a whipped cream frosting. I was looking for a frosting recipe similar to the kind used on Walmart bakery cakes. I love that frosting! This was still good though, and was great for me because it wasn't as super sweet as a traditional buttercream. Oh, and I tried to dye it green but wasn't very successful. I put the dye in with the cream cheese mixture and had the color I wanted, but then when I folded the whipped cream in it completely washed out the color. Next time I might try adding it once it is already mixed. I was just worried that over mixing it would make it soften too much, but it's super soft anyway. So it's a delicious frosting for frosting purposes only, not decorating.

Easy Broccoli Quiche

Recipe:

PREP TIME	20 Min
COOK TIME	30 Min
READY IN	50 Min

SERVINGS & SCALING

Original recipe yield: 6 servings

INGREDIENTS

• 2 tablespoons butter
• 1 onion, minced
• 1 teaspoon minced garlic
• 2 cups chopped fresh broccoli
• 1 (9 inch) unbaked pie crust
• 1 1/2 cups shredded mozzarella cheese
• 4 eggs, well beaten
• 1 1/2 cups milk
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 teaspoon black pepper
• 1 tablespoon butter, melted

DIRECTIONS

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C).
2. Over medium-low heat melt butter in a large saucepan. Add onions, garlic and broccoli. Cook slowly, stirring occasionally until the vegetables are soft. Spoon vegetables into crust and sprinkle with cheese.
3. Combine eggs and milk. Season with salt and pepper. Stir in melted butter. Pour egg mixture over vegetables and cheese.
4. Bake in preheated oven for 30 minutes, or until center has set.

Review:
We love this recipe and have made it quite a few times now. We actually don't even change much about it either, like we do with every other recipe. The only changes are to put half of the cheese on the pie crust before putting anything else in, keeping the crust from going soggy. We put the rest of the cheese on top of the vegetables like the recipe calls for. The only other change is the cooking time; 30 minutes never seems to be long enough. We usually bake it 40-45 minutes and it turns out perfect. The last time we made it we even tried it without the crust to cut the fat. It was still yummy and delicious!

27 Dresses

Background:
Two things about Jane: she's never says no to her friends (she's been a bridesmaid 27 times and selflessly plans friends' weddings), and she's in love with her boss, nurturing dreams of a lovely, romantic wedding of her own. She meets Kevin, a cynical writer who finds her attractive, and that same week, her younger, flirtatious sister Tess comes to town. Jane silently watches the man she loves fall for Tess. Worse, Jane may be called upon to plan their wedding. Meanwhile, Kevin tries to get Jane's attention and has an idea that may advance his career.

Review:
This movie was pretty stinkin' cute. I really liked it. There were a couple swear words (a little more than 10), some implied nudity and a few sexual innuendos. It's just getting harder and harder to find entirely clean movies...unless they are 'G' rated (in which case they are usually intended for kids). Children's movies are great, but every once in a while I need a change. And this movie worked for that. It was funny and romantic and had the perfect happy ending I expect from a good chick flick. I even watched it twice during the 27 hour rental period. It may even be worth owning one day.

P.S. I Love You

Background:
Holly Kennedy is beautiful, smart and married to the love of her life - a passionate, funny, and impetuous Irishman named Gerry. So when Gerry's life is taken by an illness, it takes the life out of Holly. The only one who can help her is the person who is no longer there. Nobody knows Holly better than Gerry. So it's a good thing he planned ahead. Before he died, Gerry wrote Holly a series of letters that will guide her, not only through her grief, but in rediscovering herself. The first message arrives on Holly's 30th birthday in the form of a cake, and to her utter shock, a tape recording from Gerry, who proceeds to tell her to get out and "celebrate herself". In the weeks and months that follow, more letters from Gerry are delivered in surprising ways, each sending her on a new adventure and each signing off in the same way; P.S. I Love You. Holly's mother and best friends begin to worry that Gerry's letters are keeping Holly tied to the past, but in fact, each letter is pushing her further into a new future. With Gerry's words as her guide, Holly embarks on a journey of rediscovery in a story about marriage, friendship and how a love so strong can turn the finality of death into a new beginning for life.

Review:
This movie was alright. I liked it, but I didn't love it. I felt like I was on an emotional roller coaster through the whole thing. Every five minutes I would change from happy to sad. Also, it had a few too many sex scenes for me. I would have preferred to have those parts left out. Other than those things, the movie was cute and kept me interested the entire time. Plus, it did end on a happy note. A decent chick flick if I do say so myself.

Creamy Au Gratin Potatoes

Recipe:

PREP TIME	30 Min
COOK TIME	1 Hr 30 Min
READY IN	2 Hrs

SERVINGS & SCALING

Original recipe yield: 4 servings

INGREDIENTS

• 4 russet potatoes, sliced into 1/4 inch slices
• 1 onion, sliced into rings
• salt and pepper to taste
• 3 tablespoons butter
• 3 tablespoons all-purpose flour
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 2 cups milk
• 1 1/2 cups shredded Cheddar cheese

DIRECTIONS

1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees F (200 degrees C). Butter a 1 quart casserole dish.
2. Layer 1/2 of the potatoes into bottom of the prepared casserole dish. Top with the onion slices, and add the remaining potatoes. Season with salt and pepper to taste.
3. In a medium-size saucepan, melt butter over medium heat. Mix in the flour and salt, and stir constantly with a whisk for one minute. Stir in milk. Cook until mixture has thickened. Stir in cheese all at once, and continue stirring until melted, about 30 to 60 seconds. Pour cheese over the potatoes, and cover the dish with aluminum foil.
4. Bake 1 1/2 hours in the preheated oven.

Review:
These were good, but not spectacular. I was looking for a lower fat version of my regular funeral potato recipe that has a couple cans of creamed soups, at least a cup of sour cream and plenty of cheese. This is lower fat, but it's not as good as my other potatoes. I guess I'll have to decide whether I'd rather live longer or die happy. Also, this recipe makes at least eight servings, unless maybe it is served as a main dish. An entire potato usually fills me up; maybe the author of this recipe eats more than I do.

We did make a couple changes. Our potato slices were more like 1/8 an inch (or smaller) because we used a vegetable slicer. This made the recipe more like chunky mashed potatoes, but it was still creamy and yummy. Second thing, upon tasting when they were done, we decided they needed quite a bit more salt. When salted to taste, as the recipe calls for, I'd use 1/2 teaspoon or more, plus the recommended salt for the sauce. We used skim milk like usual (the recipe doesn't specify -- this worked just fine) and we had to add some extra cheese at the end (I think we only put a cup to start out -- we didn't measure exactly). Overall, if you're trying to make a more "natural" version of the typical funeral potatoes, this works, but it's not as yummy.

Brown Sugar Meatloaf

Recipe:

PREP TIME	20 Min
COOK TIME	1 Hr
READY IN	1 Hr 30 Min

SERVINGS & SCALING

Original recipe yield: 8 servings

INGREDIENTS

• 1/2 cup packed brown sugar
• 1/2 cup ketchup
• 1 1/2 pounds lean ground beef
• 3/4 cup milk
• 2 eggs
• 1 1/2 teaspoons salt
• 1/4 teaspoon ground black pepper
• 1 small onion, chopped
• 1/4 teaspoon ground ginger
• 3/4 cup finely crushed saltine cracker crumbs

DIRECTIONS

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Lightly grease a 5x9 inch loaf pan.
2. Press the brown sugar in the bottom of the prepared loaf pan and spread the ketchup over the sugar.
3. In a mixing bowl, mix thoroughly all remaining ingredients and shape into a loaf. Place on top of the ketchup.
4. Bake in preheated oven for 1 hour or until juices are clear.

Review:
I made tons of changes to this, but I really don't think I would have liked it much more if I followed the original recipe. I didn't change the sauce any and I think that's what killed it for me. It was just too sweet for me. I'm used to a more savory meatloaf. It was rated quite high by many people, so I'm sure some people would love this. It just wasn't for me.

Here's my changes: First, I used ground turkey rather than ground beef because I like to keep things as healthy as possible and eating ground beef all the time isn't my idea of healthy (ground turkey also tends to me a little more naturally moist than beef, so the texture ends up being more dense -- this doesn't usually bother me, but I wasn't a fan this time). Also, I only used one pound (one and a half just seemed like too much food) and kept everything in the meatloaf mostly the same. I used about half a small onion, chopped fine, and I didn't have saltines, but surprisingly had Chicken in a Biscuit crackers. I used 3/4 cup of them finely crushed but the meatloaf still wouldn't hold together, so I added about 1/3 cup more of bread crumbs. I also kept the sauce mostly the same but put it on top of the meatloaf like reviewers suggested (added a dash or two of Worcestershire sauce -- also recommended by reviewers). The biggest change I made was to "bake" it in a Crockpot on high for four hours instead of the oven. Since summer has decided to show up and things have heated up quite a bit, I didn't want to heat up the house any more than necessary.

The Giver

Background:
The novel follows a boy named Jonas through the twelfth year of his life. Jonas' society has eliminated pain and strife by converting to "Sameness", a plan which has also eradicated emotional depth from their lives. Jonas is selected to inherit the position of "Receiver of Memory," the person who stores all the memories of the time before Sameness, in case they are ever needed to aid in decisions that others lack the experience to make. As Jonas receives the memories from his predecessor—the "Giver"—he discovers how shallow his community's life has become.

Review:
I love this book. I have read this book at least four times in my short life and every time I read it, it becomes an entirely different book, with different meanings and emotions, to me. The most recent time I read it I still loved it, but I kept feeling so much anger inside toward this society. It's amazing how much people complain about the problems in our country, around the world and just about life in general. Sadly, most don't do anything to change things. So things perpetuate and continue to be bad and to get worse. But even if we were to have a "perfect society," I think the cost of losing our choice and such just wouldn't be worth it to me. This society is what I envision Satan's plan to look like. It is a real eye opener. When we compare it to the many things we are blessed with we realize we have so many choices in this great nation that we sometimes take for granted. I guess it just takes an infuriating, but great, book to humble us. I love all the symbolism and thought put into the society and writing within this book. Lois Lawry has truly created a thinking book. It could become a great conversation piece to use with children to discuss some of life's tough issues.

Quinoa and Black Beans

Recipe:

PREP TIME	15 Min
COOK TIME	35 Min
READY IN	50 Min

SERVINGS & SCALING

Original recipe yield: 10 servings

INGREDIENTS

• 1 teaspoon vegetable oil
• 1 onion, chopped
• 3 cloves garlic, peeled and chopped
• 3/4 cup uncooked quinoa
• 1 1/2 cups vegetable broth
• 1 teaspoon ground cumin
• 1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper
• salt and pepper to taste
• 1 cup frozen corn kernels
• 2 (15 ounce) cans black beans, rinsed and drained
• 1/2 cup chopped fresh cilantro

DIRECTIONS

1. Heat the oil in a medium saucepan over medium heat. Stir in the onion and garlic, and saute until lightly browned.
2. Mix quinoa into the saucepan and cover with vegetable broth. Season with cumin, cayenne pepper, salt, and pepper. Bring the mixture to a boil. Cover, reduce heat, and simmer 20 minutes,
3. Stir frozen corn into the saucepan, and continue to simmer about 5 minutes until heated through. Mix in the black beans and cilantro.

Review:
This recipe is really yummy! I like to prepare at least one meatless meal a week and this is one of my favorites so far. It is refreshing and quite healthy too. Quinoa is a grain that is a complete protein, so this meal offers quite a bit of nutrition without being as heavy or as expensive as a meat/poultry dish. This is the second time I have made it and I have made a few changes. The first time I just used one can of black beans, used chicken broth rather than vegetable and put a can of Rotel in. All those changes made it great except the Rotel made it too spicy for our liking. So, this past time I changed the same things, but rather than use Rotel I just put a can of drained, diced tomatoes in and it made it perfect for the spice flavor. I like to use this as a tortilla filling but it is hearty enough to be a main dish itself.

To learn more about quinoa visit here and here.

Chicken Cordon Bleu

Recipe:

PREP TIME	15 Min
COOK TIME	45 Min
READY IN	1 Hr

SERVINGS & SCALING

Original recipe yield: 6 servings

INGREDIENTS

• 6 skinless, boneless chicken breast halves
• 6 slices Swiss cheese
• 6 slices ham
• 3 tablespoons all-purpose flour
• 1 teaspoon paprika
• 6 tablespoons butter
• 1/2 cup dry white wine
• 1 teaspoon chicken bouillon granules
• 1 tablespoon cornstarch
• 1 cup heavy whipping cream

DIRECTIONS

1. Pound chicken breasts if they are too thick. Place a cheese and ham slice on each breast within 1/2 inch of the edges. Fold the edges of the chicken over the filling, and secure with toothpicks. Mix the flour and paprika in a small bowl, and coat the chicken pieces.
2. Heat the butter in a large skillet over medium-high heat, and cook the chicken until browned on all sides. Add the wine and bouillon. Reduce heat to low, cover, and simmer for 30 minutes, until chicken is no longer pink and juices run clear.
3. Remove the toothpicks, and transfer the breasts to a warm platter. Blend the cornstarch with the cream in a small bowl, and whisk slowly into the skillet. Cook, stirring until thickened, and pour over the chicken. Serve warm.

Review:
One word...Fabulous!! This was so delicious. As usual, a few things were changed. First, we scaled the recipe for four servings but only prepared two chicken breasts and kept the sauce recipe to serve four. We did have a little sauce left over, but not much and it was worth it to have a little extra to use on side dishes (steamed asparagus this time). Next, we replaced the white wine with chicken broth and replaced the heavy cream with skim milk and a bit of butter. We just don't keep cream around the house and we're skim milk people, so that's what we used. Next time I think I'll leave the extra butter out because the sauce has corn starch and doesn't really need the butter in order to thicken. And we pulled the chicken out about four minutes early because it was done already.
This worked great as Sunday meal because it took a bit of time that we usually don't have on weeknights. Plus it's just one of those fancy-ish type meals that I try to reserve for special days. It was fairly easy to prepare; probably moderate in level. Definitely worth a try if you're looking for a new chicken recipe!

Creme Brulee French Toast

Recipe:

PREP TIME	20 Min
COOK TIME	40 Min
READY IN	9 Hrs

SERVINGS & SCALING

Original recipe yield: 6 servings

INGREDIENTS

• 1/2 cup unsalted butter
• 1 cup packed brown sugar
• 2 tablespoons corn syrup
• 6 (1 inch thick) slices French bread
• 5 eggs
• 1 1/2 cups half-and-half cream
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1 teaspoon brandy-based orange liqueur (Grand Marnier®)
• 1/4 teaspoon salt

DIRECTIONS

1. Melt butter in a small saucepan over medium heat. Mix in brown sugar and corn syrup, stirring until sugar is dissolved. Pour into a 9x13 inch baking dish.
2. Remove crusts from bread, and arrange in the baking dish in a single layer. In a small bowl, whisk together eggs, half and half, vanilla extract, orange brandy, and salt. Pour over the bread. Cover, and chill at least 8 hours, or overnight.
3. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Remove the dish from the refrigerator, and bring to room temperature.
4. Bake uncovered 35 to 40 minutes in the preheated oven, until puffed and lightly browned.

Rating:
I give the recipe 2 stars. I wasn't too impressed with any part of it. It was WAY too sweet. And it had a funny texture that just wasn't my thing. Sort of a mushy scrambled egg effect. Also, I didn't follow the recipe exactly. The changes made were replacing the orange liqueur with vanilla extract and the half and half with skim milk. The entire recipe was a disappointment to me, especially with the rave reviews I had read about it. Oh well, you win some; you lose some.

The Seeker

Background:
On his 14th birthday Will Stanton finds out that he is the last of a group of warriors - The Light - who have spend their lives fighting against evil - The Dark. Will travels through time to track down the signs that will enable him to confront the evil forces.

Rating:
I give this movie three stars. Overall, I thought this movie was a little weird. It is a classic tale of good and evil and probably best suited for males or those intrigued by Tolkien type stories. It was a bit too creepy for me also, nothing scary...just sort of Lord of the Rings - esque. Maybe I'll have to read the book, as well as the other books in the series by Susan Cooper. I'm sure the movie leaves out a lot of details and I'd rather imagine my own non-creepy scenes and characters.